


Birthday Boy

by songofthe52hertzwhale



Category: Dalton Academy Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 17:49:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20952422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/songofthe52hertzwhale/pseuds/songofthe52hertzwhale
Summary: Julian Larson turns eighteen.His friends plan some things.





	Birthday Boy

**Author's Note:**

> For Chelsea's birthday present she asked for a fic where Julian's happy, everyone loves him, and maybe there's a beach.
> 
> I think I hit all the criteria XD

Julian doesn’t usually do much on his birthday.

He has parties, of course. Massive, over-the-top blowouts that end in underage drinking and enough stories to feed the tabloids for months. But those never happen on his  _ actual _ birthday.

He can’t really explain why it started. But for as long as he can remember now, the actual date has been something calm. He’ll go shopping, or to a movie. He’ll have dinner with his mother, smile as he unwraps a new watch or the keys to a new car. He’ll talk to his father on the phone, thank him for the yacht or moped or vacation package.

It’s not intentional, really. It’s just what happens.

Which is why, when he wakes up on the morning of his eighteenth birthday, he’s a little surprised to see his room has somehow been filled with balloons. He frowns up at the ceiling, watching as a green balloon bobs on the ceiling.

_ ...what _ ?

Just as he’s wondering what’s going on, wondering how the hell his mother got all of these into his room without him waking, he begins to hear soft voices from elsewhere in the house.

_ Male _ voices.

For a moment, he tenses. But really, what are the chances that a murderer would take the time to decorate for his birthday?

There are more balloons scattered across his floor, and he has to carefully pick his way across his bedroom. The voices are a little clearer when he steps into the hall, but still hushed, as if they’re purposefully trying to keep quiet. 

It can’t be his father, he knows -- Travis is filming somewhere in Singapore right now. He can’t imagine Dolce would pick  _ today _ to finally introduce her boyfriend. But Clark, maybe? Cameron?

“Oh my god, Logan, you’re  _ ruining _ it!” One of the voices says, and Julian pauses at the top of the stairs. No. They can’t be here. They were both across the country just yesterday.

“I’m not ruining it, he  _ likes _ extra syrup!”

“He’s  _ asleep _ . By the time he gets it, it’s just going to be a soggy mess.”

They bicker back and forth, still trying in vain to keep their voices hushed. Julian manages to make it down the stairs unseen. He leans against the doorway of the kitchen, watching as his idiot friends argue over what appears to be the largest stack of pancakes anyone’s ever made.

“What about whipped cream, on top? With blueberries?”

Derek opens his mouth to answer, but Julian gets there first, “I prefer strawberries, actually.”

Both boys swivel around, and Julian laughs at their wide-eyed expressions when they realize they’ve been caught. Logan, a little stupidly, tries to block the view of the pancakes, throwing his body between Julian and the counter. 

“I’m guessing the stupid amount of balloons in my room is thanks to you two?”

Derek’s expression shifts to exasperated, and Julian senses he’s touched on a contentious subject.

“Logan was supposed to order eighteen,” he says, turning to glare at the blonde, “Eighteen. But someone couldn’t figure out the online order form, and we wound up with  _ one hundred and eighty _ .”

Logan looks a little put out, “But that’s not the point. The point is….happy birthday!”

He steps away from the pancakes, and he and Derek each do some odd, half-coordinated gesture at the kitchen counter. It’s not just the pancakes, Julian sees. There’s a large pot of coffee ready, surrounded by a wide selection of creamers. There’s also a large bowl of cut-up fruit, a pitcher of juice, and a whole stack of presents.

Julian stares. He can tell Logan and Derek did all of this themselves. The coffee pot is sitting right on the counter, rather than on a trivet like his mom would have done. The fruit is cut unevenly, some of the chunks too large and some far too small. There’s syrup dripping from the pancakes onto the counter, and even the presents are messily wrapped.

He isn’t sure why that makes him feel so  _ emotional _ .

Logan and Derek start to look a little worried when Julian doesn’t say anything.

“We didn’t plan, like, a huge party or anything,” Derek says, “We know you’re doing that this weekend. But we wanted to do something for your birthday....”

Julian thinks he might get choked up if he tries to talk right now. So instead, he moves forward, throwing one arm around each of his friends. They visibly relax as Julian hugs them, and he can feel Logan’s laughter against his hair.

“Happy birthday, Jules.”

They’ve made way too many pancakes, they discover. Even with all three of them going after it, they seem to barely make a dent. They do finish the coffee, however, and then Julian’s having presents pushed forward for him to open.

It’s an interesting assortment of gifts, really. There’s a soft new cat bed for Sneakers. A tiny director’s chair emblazoned with Sonic’s name. Numerous pairs of new sunglasses. An impossibly soft sweater that Julian pulls on immediately, which makes Logan smile. 

“You did  _ not _ buy me a fucking Cheshire Cat onesie,” Julian says, staring in the last box. Derek looks far too amused, leaning over to show off the little ears sewn to the hood.

He notices Logan checking his phone a few times, as they get through the presents. He’s mildly offended, until he sees Logan read a message, look up at Derek, and nod.

“So…” Derek says, clearing the plates out of their way, “We thought maybe you’d wanna do something chill today? We could go see a movie. Sit by the pool. Oh, don’t you guys have a private beach? We could head down there.”

For someone so smart, Derek is  _ terrible _ at being sneaky. By his tone of voice, it’s clear he wants Julian to pick the last option. Julian considers fucking with the plan, just for his own amusement. But it does seem like these two have put a good amount of effort into figuring all this out, and he’s curious to see what they have in store.

“The beach sounds fun,” Julian says, “Logan’s gonna have to bathe in sunscreen first, though. Don’t want a repeat of last year in the Hamptons.”

Logan rolls his eyes, “Go get changed, princess. I’m sure your mom has sunscreen around here somewhere.”

“And aloe,” Derek adds, “For the inevitable burn you’ll get anyway.”

They fall back into their bickering, and Julian grins as he heads back upstairs. He elects to leave the sweater on -- it’s always a little cool by the beach -- and trades in his sleep pants for a pair of red swim trunks. He fixes his hair, still mussed from sleep, and rummages through Dolce’s bathroom for sunscreen for Logan. He grabs a few towels, shoves them into a bag, and heads back downstairs.

The other two have already changed -- Derek into black board shorts, Logan into a dark green swimsuit -- and Julian tosses the sunscreen Logan’s way.

Julian certainly expects to see  _ something _ when they head down to the beach. More balloons, perhaps, or a whole festival set-up.

He doesn’t expect to see all his friends from  _ Something Damaged _ , all standing around a large cabana decorated with colorful streamers and yes, more balloons.

“Oh my god,” Julian says, a smile growing across his face, “I thought you guys didn’t get along? Clark said there was a...altercation, at the hospital.”

Logan’s mouth presses into a straight line, and his eyes close for a moment. It’s the reaction he always has when someone mentions Julian’s hospital stay, and Derek saves him by answering.

“We’re doing our best to get along for your birthday. Apparently Clark wanted to plan something too, so we compromised. And we’re all going to be on our best behavior, aren’t we Logan?”

“I  _ said _ I’d be nice.”

“Julian!” Marcie calls, smiling wide as she waves, “Happy birthday!”

They all seem to be competing for the first hug, and Julian laughs as he’s enveloped in everyone’s arms at the same time. Cameron ruffles his hair, and Patrick presses a wet kiss to his cheek, and Isabel tries desperately to hug him without pressing her face to his sweater --  _ “It’s white, and I’m wearing makeup, I’ll stain it! _ ”

“How did you guys all even plan this?” Julian asks, looking between his two groups of friends, “Did one of you go through my phone or something?”

“Oh, it was easy,” Clark says, “We were talking about doing something, just us, but then I thought maybe these two wanted to do something, too? So I called Reed, and he gave my number to Logan, and he called me, and we figured it out.”

“It took us three months,” Natasha says, rolling her eyes, “Nobody could agree on anything.”

“Patrick wanted to rent out a theme park.”

“Derek wanted a yacht party.”

“Clark suggested flying you out to Seoul.”

“Alicia suggested a food tour of Los Angeles.”

Julian laughs, “So who decided on this, then?”

Cameron shrugs, “Joint effort, kind of? I think this plan was mostly Logan and I.”

Logan looks a little pink when Julian turns, and Julian smiles at him.

“So,” Clark says, clapping his hands together, “Not to totally change the subject, but the waves right now are  _ fantastic _ , and I brought boards.”

They don’t manage to convince everyone to try surfing. Julian and Clark are fairly decent at it, and Alicia is better. Derek’s never tried it before, but he grabs one of Clark’s spare boards and follows them out to the water anyway. The others elect to stay on the beach, and Derek shouts one more warning at Logan to put sunscreen on.

Typically, when it comes to athletic endeavours, Julian’s used to Derek being better. He’s fairly sporty himself, but Derek’s competitiveness tends to mean he puts far more effort into physical fitness than anyone else.

But Julian’s absolutely gleeful to find out that Derek’s flat-out  _ bad _ at surfing. He can’t seem to catch his balance, nor can he figure out which waves will actually be strong enough to carry him. He falls over and over again, looking increasingly disgruntled each time he pulls himself back onto the board. Even funnier are his continued attempts to flirt with Alicia, and Julian doesn’t bother to tell him he isn’t at  _ all _ her type. 

Derek does finally, after many attempts, manage to ride a wave almost all the way in. Julian makes a big show of congratulating him, and Derek grumbles as they wade through the water up to the beach.

“Oh, relax, D. You don’t  _ have _ to be good at every single sport.”

Marcie, Nathan, Isabel, and Patrick have started up a game of volleyball. Natasha is lounging in the sun, her skin shimmering with tanning oil. Kit, who still seems to feel like he doesn’t quite belong to the group, is snapping pictures of everyone with his camera. And Logan and Cameron are still sitting under the cabana, actually  _ talking _ to one other. Julian must look visibly surprised to see it, because Kit follows his gaze and grins.

“Don’t worry,” he says, “They actually seem to be getting along. They both kind of panicked when you fell once. I think they bonded over worry.”

“I only fell  _ once _ ,” Julian says, “Derek fell like, a hundred times. They don’t have to worry about me.”

Kit blinks, “We all worry about you, Julian. We’re your friends.”

This time, Julian does actually get choked up. Kit seems to realize, and he smiles kindly, patting Julian’s shoulder.

“There’s lunch, if you’re hungry. Roast turkey sandwiches. Which, by the way, is a  _ weird _ favorite food for someone who can order kobe beef and caviar whenever he wants.”

They head back over to the cabana, and both Logan and Cameron look up as they approach.

“Not sunburnt yet, Lo?”

“Fuck off.”

“Hey. Be nice to me. It’s my  _ birthday _ .”

Logan chucks a wrapped sandwich right at Julian’s face, and Julian cackles as he catches it. The others make their way over as he starts to eat, and someone starts to throw huge bags of chips around the circle. They all settle in, and Julian smiles as he watches his school friends mingle with his Hollywood friends. He’s impressed they’re managing to get along for him, smiles as he watches them talk. There’s a flash nearby, and Kit looks sheepish when Julian looks over at him.

“Sorry,” he says, cheeks reddening, “I just...it was a good photo op. I’m not posting any of these, by the way. I just thought you’d like to have pictures of it all.”

“You can post them,” Julian says, “Just none of me falling.”

They all get a little lazy, after lunch. Everyone stretches out in the shade, toes digging in the sand, and Julian’s pretty sure at least half the group actually falls asleep. For once, he can’t seem to. He has too much energy, too much excitement.

“Hey,” Logan says, softly, “You wanna go back in?”

He gestures to the water, and Julian grins.

They run into the waves together, laughing and splashing at each other. Julian dives under the water, and Logan yelps when he emerges on the other side, jumping onto his back and dunking the blonde beneath the water.

“Hey,” Logan says softly, when they’ve calmed down a bit, “Is this okay? The whole birthday thing?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s just...I mean, you kept it a secret for so long. I wasn’t sure if maybe you wouldn’t want to celebrate. We just thought...y’know, eighteen is kind of a big one. I wanted it to be special.”

“Logan. This is  _ perfect _ . Really.”

Logan smiles, looking relieved. They eventually make their way back to the cabana, and Julian stretches out across one of the lounge chairs.

He’s not sure how long he sleeps. His eyes shut closed the moment he lays down, and he’s roused only by the feeling of Logan shaking him awake.

“Hey, you ready to go back?”

The others hug him again, as they pack up, and Julian sleepily stumbles back up the path to the house. Derek and Logan look just as tired as he does, and Julian only barely manages to wake up when he sees the cake waiting on the kitchen counter. It’s simple, small, a chocolate-covered circle cake with rainbow sprinkles.

“Don’t worry,” Derek says, “It’s from a store. Neither of us made it.”

“Good, I didn’t want to end today poisoned,” Julian says, “You guys okay with taking this to the couch? I’m like, five minutes away from falling asleep again.”

Logan grabs the cake, and Derek grabs forks, and the three of them curl up on the sofa to eat the cake straight off the platter. Someone turns on the tv, but Julian doesn’t pay much attention to the movie.

He does drift off again, wakes up only slightly when he feels a blanket falling over his shoulders. His eyes flutter open, and Dolce smiles down at him.

“Happy birthday, darling. Did you have a good day?”

Julian looks to his side, where Derek’s curled up, head on Julian’s shoulder. Logan’s on his other side, one arm firmly around Julian’s waist. They’re both fast asleep, and Julian smiles.

“Yeah. It was a pretty good day.”


End file.
